Not to hijack the last one's idea of a court room, but this lovely little tidbit was sitting in my "to be written" folder so I thought I'd toss it on here for someone to play with if they were interested... lol :p
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"Your honor, the defense would like to call to the stand Mr. Brian Littrell."
Nick looked up from his concentration on the table in front of him. His eyes fluttered past the opposite table to where Brian was just entering the courtroom. His shoes echoed in the silence of the room as he made his way to the witness stand. Brian was sworn in and he took a seat and Nick leaned back in the hard wooden chair and folded his arms across his chest.
"Please state your name for the record."
Brian leaned forward, his mouth practically on the microphone in front of him. "Brian Thomas Littrell, your honor," he said.
"Proceed," the judge's voice rang out.
Watson Hughes, the defense attourney, tugged at his tie and moved closer. "Mr. Littrell, you've worked with my client, Mr. Carter for quite some time, I understand?"
"Almost twenty years," Brian answered, nodding.
"How well would you say that you know Mr. Carter?"
"Extremely well."
"Please describe Mr. Carter's personality for the jury."
It was the question that Watson Hughes had spent hours trying to talk Nick out of - the question that Nick had insisted was the best question they could ask Brian on the stand. He'd said that they could trust Brian against anything in the world to give the right answer. And when he'd said it, Nick had truly believed that. But in the past couple days... well, he couldn't be too sure anymore. He felt his breath resting in his throat, his heart slowing to a low hum.
Brian took a deep breath, shifted his weight. His eyes went to Nick, then to Penny, and back to Nick. He looked at his hands, seemed to collect himself, and looked back up. "Nick has been my best friend since 1993," he said slowly.
"And were you with Nick the night of --"
"Which is why it's so hard for me to do this," Brian added, interrupting Watson Hughes.
Nick felt his stomach crawl into his throat.
He was about to go to jail.